Systems and methods for food safety detection

Abstract

A method for detecting an ingredient in a food product includes establishing a spectral signature in a Raman spectrum obtained from a chemical substance; allowing a food sample solution obtained from a food product to come to contact with a first nano-scale surface structure in a first sensor, wherein the first sensor comprises a substrate, wherein the nano-scale surface structure comprises a plurality of columns over the substrate or a plurality of holes in the substrate; illuminating the food sample solution and the first nano-scale surface structure on the first sensor by a laser beam; scattering the laser beam by the food sample solution and the first nano-scale surface structure to produce a scattered light; obtaining a first Raman spectrum from the scattered light using a spectral analyzer; and identifying the spectral signature in the first Raman spectrum to determine the existence of the chemical substance in the food product.

Description

[0001]The present application is a Continuation-in-Part (CIP) patent application of commonly assigned pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12 / 176,383, entitled “Non-invasive disease diagnosis using light scattering probe”, filed Jul. 20, 2008. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12 / 176,383 is a CIP of commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 681,157 (now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,428,046), entitled “Trace chemical optical probe”, filed Mar. 1, 2007. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 681,157 is a continuation application of commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 987,842 (now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,242,469), which is a CIP patent application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 852,787 (now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,384,792) filed on May 24, 2004. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 852,787 claims priority to Provisional Patent Applications 60 / 473,283 and 60 / 473,287 filed on May 27, 2003, and Provisional Patent Application 60 / 520,222 filed on Nov. 1...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]Embodiments may include one or more of the following advantages. The disclosed systems and methods provide simple and non-invasive approach to detect a disease in a patient. The disclosed systems are portable and easy to operate, and are thus ideal for being used for early disease prevention, and in-field drug usage screening. The disclosed systems and methods are suitable for early detect and diagnosis. The disclosed systems and methods also have short testing cycle, and can therefore be very helpful for monitoring progresses in the treatment of diseases and drug use. The disclosed systems and methods can detect a wide range of disease such as oral cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer, liver cirrhosis, a failing kidney, ulcer cancer, ovarian cancer, uterus cancer, cervical cancer, oral cancer, esophageal cancer, thyroid cancer, larynx cancer, leukemia, colon cancer, bladder cancer, prostate cancer, bronchus cancer, pancreas cancer, diabetes, HIV, smoking status as well as illicit drug use.

Problems solved by technology

Despite the fact Raman detectors have sensitivity down to a level of single molecule detection (SMD), due to several technical difficulties; conventional Raman sensors still have very limited applications.

Specifically, one of the major limitations of Raman spectroscopy application is the weak Raman scattering signal for trace chemical detection.

However, such efforts still have very limited success and have not been able to make Raman detectors available for practical and economical applications that urgently require ultra sensitive chemical trace detections.

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